Geology Tour

GEOLOGY TOUR PROVIDES INSIGHT

Lorne Aadland, Tribal Liaison, Sisseton, SD

The September Richland County and Roberts Conservation District 2009 Geology Tour provided a fascinating view of our world and how it was formed. From “eskers” and “kames” to “veblens,” tour coordinators helped participants recognize and understand features on the landscape, how they were formed and sometimes their importance and influences on our current way of life.

Scientific and historical information such as this was outlined during the tour. Speakers were Dr. Donald Schwert, PhD Professor of Geology at North Dakota State University; Jay Gilbertson, District Manager, East Dakota Water Development District. A road log was compiled by Lorne Aadland, Tribal Liaison, Sisseton, with assistance by Steve Fischer, RC&D Coordinator, Fargo and Kent Duerre, District Conservationist, Sisseton. Special thanks to Bruce Kunze, Soil Scientist, Brookings for providing the maps; to Melanie Yost, District Manager, Roberts Conservation District for putting together the lunch and handling registration in South Dakota; and to Larry Osborn and Tara Jensen, Richland County Tax Equalization, for help with planning the tour and handling the North Dakota registration.

Oblique air view of veblens about three miles southwest of Geneseo, Sargent County, North Dakota. This veblen is in Section 27, T. 130N., R. 53W., and is up to 40 feet high. The view is to the south. Dr. Kenneth Harris, a former North Dakota Geological Survey geologist now at the Minnesota Geological Survey, first recognized certain features in 1984 while mapping the geology along the South Dakota border in southeastern North Dakota. He noticed several small hills and referred to them as “veblens,” after the town of Veblen, South Dakota. The veblens in southeastern North Dakota are from 40 to 70 feet high and most of them are about 0.1 to 0.2 mile across. About 50 veblens were mapped in the area.